Hacker News Reader

iAlien has nothing to do w/ Reddit, they just use the API...

Yes, I know that and that wasn't my point. And neither does Alien Blue for that matter. My point was that I didn't want to pay for iAlien's "new app" which was anything but a new app. I am happy to pay for new features, but there weren't any new features and the iAlien developer was claiming he had to re-submit the app (and require everyone to re-buy the Pro features) due to (IIRC) Alien Blue claiming naming issues which seemed pretty suspicious to me.

And now I just went to the app store to check on iAlien and it appears to be available again as iAlien and has been updated. Maybe whatever the problem was was resolved and it wasn't actually a problem in the first place? I wish someone who knew what was going on could explain, would be enlightening ;)

EDIT: Nope, there was definitely some controversy:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/1wk2n3/the_ialien...

http://www.reddit.com/r/ialien/comments/1wbtqe/ialien_has_be...

Apparently some iAlien lovers with their head in the sand are harassing me here ;)

You are being downvoted because iAlien and their (alleged scam) has nothing to do with the discussion of the topic, which is Alien blue getting acquired.

Well, my point was about trying to choose a good reddit client, making the (wrong) choice of iAlien (and why that choice ended up being wrong), ending up with Blue Alien and being happy with it in the end only to find out that I need to be on high alert to ensure I'm not charged (again) to get the same functionality that I've paid for twice.

I understand that the scam that was iAlien isn't really anything to do with Alien Blue (I've mentioned numerous times that I'm now happy with Alien Blue), but that the quote:

"Our whole philosphy has been to give our users choice. We’ve got the reddit AMA app, and alienblue coming out… but we really want users to use whatever they want."

means that it is hard to find the right client for iOS. The point being that I'm someone who seeks an informed opinion, not making a reddit client (or any other client) decision lightly, but still got burned. I get the "freedom to choose", but the fact that iAlien was a scam means that more visibility on the "bad" actors here would be useful for users.

Apparently I wasn't 100% clear on the issue I was trying to present, and instead of starting a positive dialog, it turned into "downvote the anti-choice guy". I just wish that a downvote would require a reason for the downvote instead of just a "shut that guy down."

I don't know anything about the scam, but I find iAlien crashes all the bloody time on my iPad. The nagging "leave a review" notification has never endeared me to it either.

I'd be curious to hear more about the scam, if you have a source on hand.

Ok, I've been looking for a link but I'm not finding one. I'll continue to look, but I'll explain my experience in the mean time. Probably at the cost of some karma without explanation ;) But here goes anyway.

Originally I was looking for a reddit mobile app and tried Alien Blue and iAlien, not the "pro" version of either, but I chose iAlien, used the trial for a bit, then bought the pro version.

At some point there was an "upgrade" link inside the app that pointed to a new, renamed app with an explanation that "someone" had asked Apple to pull the original iAlien app (based on the name? going from memory here) so the developer released the app under a new name, but, of course, anyone who had purchased iAlien pro would have to re-buy the new app.

A comment either under the original iAlien or under the new name claimed that the developer had pulled this before. So I was reluctant to buy the new app thinking that this might be an endless cycle.

Instead, I purchased Alien Blue pro and have been happy since with it. So happy that I can't remember why I originally chose iAlien in the first place. I could have been more features in the trial for all I know at this point.

I'll try and see if I can reconstruct what I originally went through with links, but if anyone disputes what I'm saying, you can down vote me, but please explain or clarify, I'd really appreciate it and it will probably spur an interesting dialog.

EDIT: here are a couple links that I remember reading and changing my mind about iAlien and switching to Alien Blue:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/1wk2n3/the_ialien...

http://www.reddit.com/r/ialien/comments/1wbtqe/ialien_has_be...

Could someone explain the down votes please? I'd love the education ;) I really thought that posting my experience might spur some interesting dialog.

What does some other app have anything to do with this?

Sorry, to clarify, I just bought Alien Blue in the last six months and I'm worried that I might have to buy it again after having already bought the pro version of another reddit app only to find that it had been removed. Hopefully, as a semi-official app, this will be the last time I'll have to buy a reddit client (and it had occurred to me that I might develop my own app to meet my needs and provide better support and service).

Maybe my comment could provide reddit with feedback that:

1. They could have done this much earlier with an official app that I would have been happy to purchase

2. According to the article "Our whole philosphy has been to give our users choice. We’ve got the reddit AMA app, and alienblue coming out… but we really want users to use whatever they want" ... This bit me, so take that as feedback.

I like Alien Blue and I feel that this move is a positive, someone is finally providing a means for someone to develop and maintain a stable mobile interface to reddit.

So, if you disagree, please respond instead of just down voting.

But you don't have to buy anything? You can just download alien blue and get the pro upgrade for free. And you're not being downvoted by people who love iAlien, just by people who don't think you're adding much to the conversation.

> But you don't have to buy anything? You can just download alien blue and get the pro upgrade for free.

Yes, it's a good thing I pay attention to HN to make sure I get that free "upgrade", right? What about everyone else who doesn't pay attention to HN or tech crunch? That isn't necessarily an issue for reddit as much as it's an issue for Apple, but does everyone realize that?

> And you're not being downvoted by people who love iAlien, just by people who don't think you're adding much to the conversation.

Oh really? This is a quote from my original comment:

> Alien Blue is a good app so I'm happy for Jase the developer and I forget why I originally chose iAlien over Alien Blue now, but hopefully we get some good advancements in the mobile interface which is my primary means of accessing reddit.

I mean, my previous experience with reddit mobile sucked (the experience I shared) and I'm admitting that this is acquisition is a good thing. But somehow my anecdote about how it sucked before and this seems to be a step in the right direction (admittedly I didn't frame it explicitly that way, I did have a minimal expectation that it would be accepted that way) and is a good thing.

But somehow me trying to start a discussion prompts downvotes while superficial "rah rah" comments get upvotes is more positive than my message. Welcome to /.